Vermillion: USD naming rights lawsuit settled

September 20, 2008

A lawsuit over naming rights at the University of South Dakota's business school has been settled out of court. Lawyers for the USD Foundation and for Lucy Buhler said details would be disclosed soon. Buhler's family donated $9.2 million to the university in the name of her late husband, Walter Buhler, a 1960 USD business school graduate. She argued that her donation secured naming rights to the business school, which was renamed for Premier Bankcard executive Miles Beacom after T. Denny Sanford donated $5 million in 2006. The USD Foundation declined her request to have $1.7 million returned for donation to a different cause. The Foundation said it upheld its end of the donation by naming a new building in Buhler's honor and sought a judge's permission to go ahead with its naming plans. The agreement allows the school to be called the Beacom School of Business. By The Associated Press